website issues

Most of you must have noticed how sluggish mediagirl.org has gotten of late. I'd like to be able to say it's because we're getting 37,000 hits a day, but alas we've not yet garnered the notice of the league. No, it's just that while our host's html servers are blazing fast, their database servers seem to be stuck in 1999. I've complained and complained, but it's a capital investment issue so their excellent tech support can't really do much at this point. (It's too bad, too, because otherwise they're a great host.)

So, after hoping against hope, I've decided to pick up and move the whole thing to a new host. I'm not sure what the timing will be -- there's still some investigating I need to do first -- but it will be soon, and when it happens, well, you know the routine. Hopefully it will come off without a hitch. With some fortuitous timing, I might be able to combine the move with a Drupal 4.6 upgrade.

In the meantime, please bear with the head-scratching pauses the site seems to take. It will all get better soon. (Fingers crossed.)

This may seem like a boring, procedural post, but stay with me. There's a punch line....

Anyone who has been reading this site for the past couple of days knows that we've been infested with a troll. At first I felt it was best to give the benefit of the doubt, believing that it's better to engage someone in thoughtful conversation than to just shut him out.

However, it soon became clear that he was not going to comport himself with any of the common blogosphere values of courtesy and respect. On the contrary, he seemed to be getting off on making wild and provocative accusations designed to provoke anger and irritation, rather than to inspire any sort of dialectic, no matter how spirited. I decided to attempt to intervene.

After being politely warned twice in comments, he persisted in is abusive and bullying rhetoric. Finally, he was asked by me via PM to leave. Of course, he had something to say about that, too. (Don't they always?)

The punchline? His last post (deleted, but preserved here for your amusement):

So media girl decided to ban me but was too dishonest, cowardly and "feminist" to tell anyone. Becuase she likes to pretend she is things she is not.

Too cowardly also to answer the challenge I put to her -- to comment on the discrimination against male domestic violence victims. This is a situation that is the opposite of what she claims to stand for. But she's just another lying feminist....

Instead of discourse her only thought is to use force to "kill off" anyone who disagrees with her. She likes to live in a bubble and lie even to her friends. Just like Bush really.

Given the recent increase in traffic and activity here, I thought it might be a good time to implement comments moderation. It's a way for registered users to "moderate" (read: "rate") comments, giving props to posts they like ... and negative scores to people who are dragging down the conversation. This approach also offers threshholds where users can choose to view only the most-recommended posts ... or see everything that's published. [Edit: viewing settings are disabled for now.] The default view shows everything that hasn't been downrated too heavily. (Trolls and spam will still be deleted without comment or warning.)

Sorry, you must be registered to rate the comments. (Remember, registration is free and private, and you can use your existing Drupal or LiveJournal account to log in.)

Hopefully this will free the moderators to be more hands-off on the site.

Due to inquiries of late as to the kinds of behavior that are acceptable vs. unacceptable on this site, I quote from the recently-updated terms of service:

While frank discourse and exchanges of ideas are encouraged, courtesy and respect are required at all times. Violators risk being banished without warning. This is not a democracy. I'm the bitch in charge, and if someone starts throwing around the furniture, that's it, you're outta here. No appeals. There's plenty of blogosphere out there. Nobody is entitled to participate here.

I hope and expect everyone can abide by these standards of behavior. Nobody in particular should take this as a personal warning, but rather as a statement of reality. This is my privilege.